This kid is the best!

Happy birthday to my super funny 6 yr old!! You are the best, kid!!

Bunk Buddies

It feels like I have done nothing at all but paint this week.  I have a green dining room... and Kaleb has a yellow and blue room!  Since the beginning of time, Kaleb's favorite colors have been "lellow, bue & white." And then it changed to yellow, blue and white.  He's also a pretty big fan of video games, Super Mario Brothers in particular.

Here are a few pictures of his new and improved room...

Notice the bunk beds.  One clearly Kaiya's... and one Kaleb's.  These beds were separate in each of their rooms, but they have been begging to share a room again.  I let it go for a few weeks of the requests, but then Kaiya ended up sleeping on the floor in his room for a week straight.  Tony and I talked and decided that they will outgrow this desire to share a room within a year or so.  So why not let them enjoy sleeping in the same room while they want to.  And the timing is great, because we have a bunch of family coming for Thanksgiving... so my nephews will have a lovely pink zebra room all to themselves. :)

While I was surprised by the desire to share a room, I am really so delighted.  They have always been such great buddies.  I really hope it stays that way.

Throwback Thursday HBD Rev Billy Graham

Just finished watching The Cross online and thought this would be a fun Throwback Thursday post since today is Rev. Billy Graham's birthday!  Here is a picture of my dad and I with Ruth Graham.  

And here is a picture of my sisters and I backstage at a Billy Graham Crusade in Seattle, Washington.  And that, my friends, is Sandi Patti. This one had to be posted because I loved her...like so much. And I have a boy haircut.  And my eyes are weird.  And why are my sisters edging me out? She was my idol first.  Oh....those adorable little sisters are always stealing the show. 

Seriously, though... That crusade was one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced.  The massive crowd... The "Just As I Am..." The lives changed... 

Happy Birthday Reverand Graham!

Smoothie Inventor

There's this thing about Kaleb.  He wants to be an inventor.  I once asked him why and he said he just thinks it would be so cool to create things to fix people's problems.  Raising an inventor is both a blessing and a curse.  I can only imagine what Benjamin Franklin put his mother through when he was a child. :) 

There's this other thing about Kaleb.  He rocks at making smoothies.  He has watched Tony and I make smoothies often enough that for the past 3 months, he has been making his own smoothie breakfast each morning.  And honestly... he's pretty good at it.  One time he had a friend stay the night and he made smoothies for their breakfast.  His friend went home and told his mom it was the best smoothie he had ever tasted.  She asked me for the recipe. Just had to laugh and tell her it was Kaleb's special recipe.

This morning Kaleb wanted to "invent" (his words) a new smoothie.  He started to tell me the ingredients he wanted to use and I immediately start struggling with that balance of not wasting our food, but also allowing him the opportunity to be creative.  So... I let him do it -- with the one rule -- he would have to drink whatever he made. Whether it tasted good or not.

Here's the first few ingredients:  2 peeled (that took some convincing) clementines, 1 banana, coconut milk, pomegranate seeds and 2 giant scoops of peanut butter. *cringe*

 

Here are the rest of the ingredients: frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen peas, carrots, and a scoop of protein powder.

As you can tell... he is pretty confident this is going to taste fabulous.

 

Here's the video of his first taste... and a little narrative about the smoothie.

 

And here's the video of Kaiya's first taste.

 

 

While he was drinking it, he was telling me how he should definitely make this smoothie recipe for the police officers.  They would LOVE it, he says.  And he is pretty sure he wouldn't be able to make it fast enough to keep up with their demand.  And then 5 minutes later, when it is all finished, he tells me that he only liked it as much as Kaiya liked it.  Which wasn't that much.

Hyser Halloween 2013

There's no doubt about it.  Kadence Quinn is a sneaky child.  We've caught her several times all closed up in the pantry eating things she isn't supposed to.  It happens at least once a week.  And her response every time is: "What?"  Said in this cute little voice that even has herself convinced she knows nothing of what could be wrong about the situation. 

This year trick-or-treating was no exception...  The kids buckets were getting a bit heavy and so we told them they could dump into the wagon.  We start strolling down the street and all of a sudden I see Kadence grabbing as much candy as she can and stuffing it into her trick-or-treat- bucket.  Here's a picture of her busted!

Throwback Thursday Halloween Edition

Throwback Thursday... Halloween Edition

 

This was October 2009.  And it's a beautiful thing, because we are recycling these costumes this year.  Kaiya will be a honey bee, Kaleb - Winnie the Pooh, and Kadence the Hunny Pot.

 

 

And just because it made me laugh when I was going through pictures.  Kaleb subjected to playing "dress up" with his big sister.  What little buddies these two are.

Tuesdays with Dr. Tony

Thought today would be a great day (since it's Tuesday) to post about the opportunity that Tony has had to be on our local news station every Tuesday morning.  We have had a lot of fun with it... there is much discussion about which ties go with which shirts and Tony is even nice enough to let me brainstorm prop ideas with him.

One of my favorite things about it is how the kids react to it.  This photo is from last year -- one of the first weeks he was on. 

We usually gather around whatever electronic device is close by.  And wait patiently for Daddy to come on.  We can usually see the set being setup during the commercial break.  No cable for us -- we are streaming online, so we get to see that "behind the scenes" stuff while we wait.  Some of us have a bit more patience than others...  Then he comes on.  And that's followed by quite a bit of shush-ing.  Generally, everyone is telling Kadence to zip it.  Stop moving!  Get your head out of my way! Kaaaaaaaaaay-dence!!!  I wish I could tell you that they sat like the little angels they appear to be in the above picture each week.  Not true.  There has even been an occasion where I have to admit to Tony that I couldn't hear a blasted thing because they were squabbling.  But thankfully, I usually don't have to wait too long until it is posted online.

We watch.  Then we critique.  The kids usually compare it to the week before and decide if it is better than the week before.  They usually want to tell me something they learned about health.  Or brag about already knowing it.

Then we wait again... for Daddy to get home.  He gets quite a round of applause from those little people when he walks in the garage door.  It is seriously the cutest. thing. ever.

You can find his clips here: www.wccbcharlotte.com -- Search for Tuesdays with Dr. Tony.

Here's the most current one: Healthier Halloween

Juice Jigglers

In our attempts to limit our kid's exposure to artificial flavors/dyes and excess sugar in foods, we've had to get creative with some of those normal, fun "kid" foods.  Like Jello Jigglers. Oh, I love those things.  I remember watching The Food Network and the show - Barefoot Contessa.  She featured these Juice Jigglers and I scribbled the recipe down in a little notebook.  We've made these often and the kids (and me!) love them.

**Disclaimer:  Healthy people can sometimes pick at each other and criticize each other's choices... just gonna say it now.  This recipe uses Knox Gelatin... and I know that some have strong opinions about gelatin. I know there are better gelatins out there -- So make your own substitutions... please don't tell me all about it.  :)

**Disclaimer #2:  These are photos taken from my iPad. I leave the real photography to my sister.

Ingredients: Juice, Knox Gelatin

Step 1: Measure one cup of juice.  Dissolve 4 envelopes of Knox unflavored gelatin in it.

It starts to look thick... like this.

Step 2: Heat 3 cups of juice to boiling and then add to thick gelatin and stir until it dissolves.

 Step 3: Pour into greased baking dish -- this one is an 11x7

 

Step 4: Refrigerate for at least 3 hours - or until set.

Here's the link to the recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fruit-juice-shapes-recipe/index.html

Throwback Thursday

Here's a throwback to 2002. 

It's Harder than it Seems

This blogging every day for 30 days is a bit harder than it seems.  I'm really struggling for content.  I need these kids to step up their game!  Kadence is always good for a few laughs.  She came through a bit for me today... but still.  I feel like I need more.

Car ride to church:

Kaleb is helping her get buckled in her seat.  You may be wondering why... I mean -- why do all the hard work myself?  Everyone deserves the pleasure of buckling Kadence into her seat every now and again.

She says in a super sweet voice, "Don't hurry."  And then not even 2 seconds later she screams, "I'm waiting on you!!"  Kaiya and I busted out laughing.  Kaiya says, "Well, that didn't make any sense!"

And then a good 10 minutes down the road we hear this little voice that says, "You is stupid."  Followed immediately by, "I wuv you soooooo much."

The child is clearly confused.

I'm meeting my deadline by 7 minutes tonight.  And so thankful that tomorrow is Throwback Thursday.  It shouldn't be too difficult to come up with a good one for that.

Please clean your room.

This is Kaleb's idea of cleaning his room. Shove everything into closet. Close closet door. Room clean. 

This mama has other plans..

What does the kid say?

Our kids are obsessed with the video "What does the fox say?" And by obsessed, I mean we listen to it at least 2 times every time we ride in the car.  But that's a post for another time.  Right now I need to document the latest kid sayings around here:

Kadence: Come oooowwwwnnnn.
Kaleb: smarshmallows
Kadence: No fair!
Kaiya: she is getting too grow up, darn it!
Kaleb: boob cushion (bra)

Leaky Diapers

Friday was a fantastic day.  And a day full of leaky diapers and little people waste all over me.  Kadence needs potty trained.  Like yesterday.  And I don't know what I have been thinking.  Maybe that Kaiya and Kaleb would just decide to take matters into their own hands and potty train their little sister?  Well, folks... that hasn't happened.  Apparently it is still up to me. Blast.

I've decided to be all relaxed lazy this time.  No need to rush her.  It will just happen when she is ready.  Hmm... today something in the universe was telling me to start potty training as soon as possible.  Because I was peed and pooped on multiple times today.

This is cute little miss all dressed and ready for the day.  Notice sweater, dress and tights.

She decided to go on the potty today at the office.  Yeah... that shot out all over my shoes and the bathroom floor.

Then we're sitting in the 3D Theater at Discovery Place and with about 3 minutes left, I start to smell something a little funky.  As we exit and I am carrying her... the stench is worse and I'm feeling a little dampness.  Here she is again... notice what's missing.  The sweater and tights.  The poo was everywhere.  On my jeans. My hands. Her tights and sweater.  I needed a hazard suit to change this diaper.  I wanted to put paper bags over all our heads while we changed her in the bathroom.  That way we wouldn't be recognized as we continued touring the museum the rest of the afternoon.

Right now Discovery Place has an exhibit called Grossology.  We could have been part of the exhibit today.  Seriously.  I was smelling that mess for a good 20 minutes after exiting the bathroom.

After our really long, full day I took the kids out to dinner.  Went to get Kadence out of her car seat and the entire half side of her dress is wet.  Lean down and take a sniff.  Yep.  It couldn't just be water.  It had to be that...  Somehow, with her diaper fully on, she managed to pee all over half of herself.  How does this even happen?  So this is how she ended the day dressed:  No pants. Wearing her brother's sweatshirt.

And next week... we'll start potty training.  Maybe.

She's a Dipper

The "blogworld" doesn't know Kadence very well.  We just can't imagine our lives without this little girl.  Words I would use to describe her: fierce, loving, two, funny.  And out of all three kids -- she is my little dipper.  Give her chicken w/ a bit of seasoning and she'll eat a couple pieces.  Give her chicken with a pile of ketchup and well... you won't even be able to blink and it will all be gone.  I have seen this kid dip food in some crazy combinations.  Strawberries and hummus probably takes the cake.  Today her culinary skills were coming out when she came up with this one:  PB & J dipped in Cinnamon Applesauce.

Zzzzzz...

So much for a fun trip with Mama to the library. She fell asleep on the way there, slept the entire time on this little bench, slept the entire way home.  And you should have seen the look on her face when she realized she missed it all! :)  She was so confused about how I had all those new books.

Thirty Days of Blogging... For Real

I've gotta jump back in here. This blog is like the pet you have before children.  It gets less and less attention, each passing year.  I start to say, "I have no idea how it got like this..."  And then, of course I know exactly how it got like this.  We started a business.  I worked full-time.  We had another child.  We started homeschooling.  I worked part-time.  Gymnastics, AWANA, Soccer.  And Facebook - I got lazy and resorted to little status blurbs, rather than blog posts.  Blah Blah Blah. Life!

But the truth is... this blog is 98% for me and 2% for the rest of you.  Family and friends... A few lurking strangers, I'm sure.  It's the place where I document milestones and funny moments.  It's the place we go back and look at with the kids to show them what they were like when they were little littler.

So it's time to get back. And I've gotta find a way to grab all of the facebook status posts and instagrams -- or at least my favorite kids ones - and import them into this blog.  That way the memories are all in one tidy place.

But for today... It's Throw Back Thursday.  So here's one for ya -- paired with this new beautiful picture of the two big ones.  Time flies... eh?